World markets report

The FTSE 100 slipped back slightly yesterday as weak energy stocks countered rising miners. The index closed down 0.4% at 5,203.

Food retailers performed poorly, with Tesco falling 2.5%, Sainsbury 1.2% and Wm Morrison 1.1%. Banks were mixed, with Barclays and RBS losing 3.3% and 0.4%, but Lloyds seeing a gain of 1.7% and HSBC 0.6% higher. Biggest faller of the day was insurance group Old Mutual, which shed 5.6%.

Miners were generally positive, with Randgold, Rio Tinto and Xstrata seeing gains of up to 1.9%, but energy stocks remained depressed as oil hung around the $73 mark.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Read the latest stock market news and charts here.

Europe

In Europe, the Paris CAC 40 fell 28 points to 3,757; and the German Xetra Dax was 41 points lower at 5,648.

US

In the US, stocks ended higher. The Dow Jones rose just 0.5% to 10,337; the S&P 500 added 0.4% to 1,095; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5% to 2,186.

Asia

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% to 9,862; and the broader Topix index lost 1.3% to close at 873 respectively. In China, the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.5% to 3,254; and the CSI 300 gained 0.6% to 3,577.

Commodities

Brent spot was trading at $72.67 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $71.17. Spot gold was trading at $1,128 an ounce, silver was at $17.38 and platinum was at $1,415

Currencies

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.6275 and against the euro at 1.1058. The dollar was trading at 0.6797 against the euro and 88.22 against the Japanese yen.

UK news

And today, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee meets, and is not expected to make any further increase to its quantitative easing programme, after already pledging £200bn. Interest rates are expected to remain at 0.5%, as the economic recovery continues to falter.